Liquid fuel burner



Feb. 13, 1940.

A. R. THOMAS LIQUID FUEL BURNER Filed Sept. 3, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR. BY fzw. www

`Feb, 13, 1940.

JA. R. THOMAS LIQUID FUEL BURNER Filed Sept. 3, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented Feb. 13, 1940 LIQUID FUEL BURNER Albert R. Thomas, Evansville,Ind., assignor to Servei, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation ofDelaware Application September 3, 1937, Serial No. 162,230

1 Claim.

My invention relates to liquid fuel burners and it is an object of thcinvention to provide an improved burner which is readily refueled,simply controlled, and quickly accessible for servicing.

5 The drawings show a burner for use with a heat operated refrigerator.The burner is pivoted so that it may be swung outside of a refrigeratorcabinet for cleaning or other servicing. An inverted bottle liquid fuelreservoir is provided l with an automatic valve permitting readyrefueling. A fountain feed and flow control valve provides a simplecontrol. This combination, its operation, and utility. are set forthwith more particularity in the following description which l makesreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l shows the lower part of a refrigerator provided with anabsorption type refrigeration apparatus heated by a burner embodying theinvvention;

Fig. -2 is a sectional view of the burner assembly taken on line 2-2 inFig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken -on line 3--3 in Fig. 1 showing a sideview of the burner assembly in the lower part of the refrigerator;

, and

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the burner assembly showing the burnerswung outside of the refrigerator cabinet.

A refrigerator cabinet I0 has a lower apparatus compartment I Iaccessible at the front by means of a door I2. The refrigerator isprovided with an absorption type refrigeration apparatus including a'generator I3 located in the apparatus compartment I I. The generatorincludes a tank I 4 and heating and circulating coil I5 surrounded bythermal insulation I6. The parts of the refrigeration apparatus shownand mentioned in this specification are only illustrative of the heat oinput portion of any desired type of absorption refrigeration system. i

A burner assembly includes an inverted bottle reservoir Il, a cup I8, aconduit arm I9, and a burner well 20. The burner well 20 is an annularchamber open at the top and closed at the bottom. A metal gauze wick 2I, also ring shaped, is located in the well 20. A perforated cylinder 22is located concentrically within the upper' part of the burner well 20and it extends appreciably above the open top of the well. The upper endof the perforated cylinder 22 is closed and the lower end is open. Theburner well 28 is fastened on o-ne end of a conduit I9. The other end ofconduit I9 is connected to the cup` I8. Conduit I8 not only supports theburner well but also provides communication between the lower part ofthe cup I8 and the lower part of the well 28. Surrounding the burnerwell 20 is a cylindrical -shield 23 open at the top and bottom. Belowthe bottom of the shield 23 and spaced therefrom is a dished shield 24having an opening 25 n the bottom and substantially centrally thereof.The burner well 20 is directly above the opening 25. The shields 23 and24 are secured together with the burner well on the conduit I9. In Figs.1, 2 and 3 the burner 4well 20 is shown located in its operativeposition directly beneath the lower.; end of the generator I3. In therefrigerator cabl ment door I2 is open, from the position shown in Figs.1, 2, and 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4. In this position, theburner well is fully accessible for trimming the wick, cleaning, orother servicing.

Above the cup I8 is a spring clip bracket 3| or other suitable devicefor holding the inverted bottle I1. `'Ihe bottle I1 is provided with acap 32 (see Fig. 2) which may be screwed on or unscrewed from the neckoi the bottle. The cap 32 is provided with a valve 33 on a plunger 34.`The valve 33 is urged to its closed position by a spring 35. When thebottle I1 is inverted into the cup I8, the weight of the bottle causesthe plunger 34 to contact the bottom of the cup and hold the valve 33open against the action of the spring 35.

The bottle I1 and cup I8 provide a fountain feed for liquid fuel fromthe bottle into the cup.

In the conduit arm I9 is a valve 35 which is adjusted by a knob 31 forregulating iiow of liquid from the cup I8 through conduit I3 to theburner well'20. The level of liquid is substantially constant in the cupI8 and at starting the level of liquid in the burner well 20 is the sameas the level in cup I 8. During operation of the burner, the level ofliquid in the burner well 20 is at or below the level of liquid in thecup I8 depending upon the adjustment of the valve 36 which controls flowof liquid through conduit I3.

To start, the bottle I1 containing liquid fuel,

such as kerosene, is inverted into the cup I8 and secured in the springclips 3l. The burner well 20 is revolved through the door opening to theposition shown in Fig. 4. In this position, a flame is ignited at theupper edge of the wick 2l. The burner is then turned back into itsposition under the generator and the valve 36 adjusted for the desiredrate of flow 0f liquid fuel through conduit I9 and thereby the desiredflame when the burner operation becomes steady. Air is supplied forcombustion through two paths as indicated by arrows in Fig. 2. In onepath, air ows above plate 26 into the opening 25 at the bottom of shield24 and thence upward through the annular burner well 20 and perforatedcylinder 22. Air also ilows upward around the outside of the burner well20 and enters around the top of the dished shield 24, flowing downwardbetween the shields 23 and 24 and thence upward to the burner flame.This tortuous air flow results in steady burner operation unaffected bydrafts and the like.

If the refrigeration apparatus is of a continuous type, the reservoir Ilmay be of any desired size since it need be refilled only whensubstantially empty. If the refrigeration apparatus is of anintermittenttype, the intermittent burner operation may be obtained with a largereservoir by utilizing the valve 36 to shut off flow of liquid fuel atthe desired end of the generating period. However, with this type ofsystem, it will be found advantageous to provide a small bottle Il, orfill the bottle only with a desired quantity of liquid so that theamount of fuel is just suflicient for supplying the burner for thelength of a desired heating or generating period. With this type ofsystem, the burner has to be intermittently lighted as, for instance,once each day. This task is simplified by being able to -merely turn theburner Well outside of the apparatus compartment where the burner isreadily accessible for lighting.

What is claimed is: y

The combination with a refrigerator having a cooling compartment and anapparatus compartment and heat operated refrigeration apparatusincluding a generator having a flue, 0f heating apparatus utilizingvaporization and combustion of a fuel oil and including a revoluble fuelre'servoir mounted in said apparatus compartment, a conduit for fuelconnected to said reservoir and projecting laterally therefrom, a burnersupported on the other end of said conduit and connected thereto, an airue around said burner and also mounted on said conduit, said conduitbeing of such length so that said burner flue forms a prolongation ofsaid generator ue, and said burner and its flue may be swunghorizontally to a position outside of said apparatus compartment forservicing of the burner.

ALBERT R. THOMAS.

